U.S. MUST HELP IN MEXICAN DRUG WAR, FOX SAYS

Ark. -- Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday that the
violence in northern Mexico shows the government's campaign against
drug trafficking in his nation is working, but cautioned the United
States must play a role in the fight.

Fox, who was visiting Arkansas to give an address at Harding
University and to visit the Clinton Presidential Center in Little
Rock, said he applauded successor Felipe Calderon's use of army
troops and federal police in drug-ravaged regions and extradition of
cartel leaders to the United States.

However, he said the United States must do its part to cut back on
purchases of illegal drugs, whose profits flow back to Mexican drug
gangs. "It's a shared responsibility, because the consumption of
drugs is here in the United States," Fox said in an interview with
The Associated Press. "Here is where the money is generated to bribe
Mexican officials, Mexican policemen and public servants, so we have
to work together." Calderon has launched a national crackdown on
organized crime, sending 24,000 soldiers to areas plagued by drug
violence. Drug gangs are in the midst of a bloody turf battle, and it
has led to beheadings, grenade attacks and execution-style killings
across Mexico.